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Archives: February 2009
NICARAGUA: Quest for Peace launches the 2009 Clean Your Desk Campaign!
Last year the school supplies you collected through the Clean Your Desk Campaign were distributed to over 6000 Nicaraguan school children. The school supplies you send go beyond strengthening work in the classrooms, they help to transform entire communities into schools of learning for life.
School supplies are also used in training workshops for; rural women, young environmentalist groups and community leaders. Special "backpacks" are prepared as stimulus gifts to honor outstanding students, volunteer tutors in the communities and teachers.
Let's redouble our efforts this year to mount a strong than ever CYD campaign in 2009! Send an email to quest-list@quixote.org and we will send you an organizers kit.
The CYD helps to advance the Nicaragua Ministry of Education's courageous goal of eliminating illiteracy by July 2009. However, the global economic crisis has impacted Nicaragua heavily, pushing more families into extreme poverty. With nearly 80% of the country's population already surviving on less than $2 per day, it will be harder to equip and keep kids in school this year.
Please help us make sure that children have the supplies they need to learn, stay in school and empower themselves. Go to quest.quixote.org see how you can help!
Organize a Clean Your Desk Campaign in your household, office, church, school or community. We will send you an organizers kit with: a map of Nicaragua, colorful poster, shipping labels, curriculum and a DVD.
Watch the CYD video and slideshow.
Spread the Word!
"Clean Your Desk" is a year-round campaign. You can begin collecting now and send your supplies at any time to our warehouse in Virginia. No box is too small, so please do what you can!
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7th ANNUAL ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS IN DC MARCH 13-16
Dear Latin America Advocates:
Please join us in Washington, DC March 13-16 for the 7th annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days.
At Advocacy Days, you and other participants from across the country will hear inspirational social and political visions directly from Latin America advocates and learn what you can do to influence the new president and Congress early on.
Register for Advocacy Days today!
Workshops on Latin America include:
• Winds of Change? What to Expect from the Obama Administration on U.S. policy towards Latin America
• Colombia for Activists
• Connecting with Churches in Cuba to End the Ban on Travel
• Promoting a Border Policy that Values All of Creation
• Afro-descendants and U.S. Policy towards Latin America
• Colombian Refugees: The Regionalization of Colombia's Humanitarian Crisis
• Exploring Indigenous Peoples' Efforts to Cope with Climate Change and Protect the Earth
Please visit our website to learn more. www.lawg.org
Don't wait to register. Advocacy Days is just three weeks away. Once you've decided to join us in Washington, email Travis at twheeler@lawg.org to let us know you're coming.
It's a moment of hope and opportunity, but changing U.S. foreign policy has never been easy. To achieve real change, we now have to show up and advocate passionately for our values and the issues we care about. So please join us at Advocacy Days and we will take the first step together!
Best,
The LAWG Team
Latin America Working Group
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COLOMBIA: Another massacre of indigenous community of Awa of Narino
Today we received news of yet another massacre perpetrated against the indigenous community of the Awá of Nariño. The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) affirmed that on February 11 an unknown armed group massacred 10 members of the Awá community while they were trying to flee their ancestral land. This follows the events of February 4, when it appears that members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) murdered 17 members of the indigenous Awá people. In addition to these victims, 3 more people disappeared and remain missing after they tried to rescue the bodies of their relatives.
These are not isolated cases of aggression against the indigenous peoples of Colombia. In October and November of 2008, the Colombian army attacked the Indigenous Minga, killing three and leaving 130 injured (see http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2008/12/30/colombia-indigenous-continue-walk) In December 2008, the Colombian army also assassinated the husband of Aida Quilcue, a recognized leader of the indigenous movement.
During recent years CPT Colombia has occasionally accompanied members of the Awá community. In May 2008 a CPT international delegation met with two representative organizations, the Organization of Indigenous Unity for the Awá People (UNIPA) and the Council of Awá Elders of Ricaurte (CAMAWARI).
We ask your continuous prayers and thoughts for this community, upon which different legal and illegal armed actors have harshly trampled. May they continue their struggle and resistance for the right to remain on their ancestral lands.
For more information (in Spanish) go to http://www.onic.org.co
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HAITI: Debt Cancellation
Haiti is the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere and is in the midst of an excruciating food crisis. Yet Haiti pays close to 2 million dollars every month to the World Bank – interest on a debt whose principle has been paid many times over. This is a textbook case of how poverty is institutionalized.
You can help. The Haiti sign-on letter now has 65 Congress Members signed on to it. If you live in Missouri, you’ll notice that ALL of our people are missing – even though they have supported debt cancellation in the past. We have a chance to make a real difference. They don’t act unless they hear from you! Please call. If you see your rep’s name here, call to thank her/him, if you don’t, urge them to sign! Then, contact us and let us know how it went! The signers are as follows:
List of Signers as of 2/12/09: Maxine Waters, Barney Frank, Spencer Bachus, Alcee L. Hastings, Barbara Lee, Baldwin, Berman, Sanford Bishop, Blumenauer, Corrine Brown, Capuano, Christensen, Clarke, Conyers, Crowley, Cummings, Danny Davis, DeGette, Delahunt, Doyle, Donna Edwards, Ellison, Engel, Farr, Fattah, Fudge, Al Green, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Honda, Jesse Jackson Jr, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Kaptur, Kucinich, John Lewis, Lynch, Maloney, McDermott, McGovern, Kendrick Meek, Gregory Meeks, Brad Miller, Dennis Moore, Gwen Moore, James Moran, Norton, Oberstar, Olver, Payne, David Price, Rangel, Rush, Schakowsky, Aaron Schock, Serrano, Sires, Slaughter, Snyder, Stark, Towns, Wasserman-Shultz, Watson, Watt, and Wexler.
Haitian President René Préval said yesterday that his impoverished country is in desperate need of economic assistance and is seeking as much as $100 million to fill a budget gap that he said could send Haiti back into anarchy.
"I believe we are at a very serious turning point," Préval said in an interview. "We can either win or lose." He said he argued that his long-troubled country was on its way to normalcy when rising food prices, the economic crisis and a series of devastating hurricanes left it reeling.
Préval spoke through an interpreter, but when asked when Haiti needed the money, he broke into English and simply declared, "Now."
We can help Haiti now - by calling on the World Bank to cancel Haiti's debt immediately.
Please call your US Representative TODAY and urge him/her to sign on to the Congressional letter to World Bank President Zoellick calling for Haiti's immediate debt cancellation. Click for instructions and a call script.
Haiti is scheduled to pay $1.6 million/month in debt payments over the coming six months -- $10 million-to the World Bank. The InterAmerican Development Bank has reached an agreement to suspend most of Haiti's debt payments in this time of crisis. The World Bank needs to do the same.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) have written a letter to World Bank President Robert Zoellick, urging him to suspend all further debt service payments from Haiti and grant the nation complete debt cancellation. Rep. Waters is asking her colleagues in the House of Representatives to join her by signing the letter. The more Representatives who sign on to the letter, the stronger the message to World Bank President Zoellick - cancel Haiti's debt and allow the Haitian government to focus on the needs of its people.
Please call your US Representative TODAY and urge him/her to sign on to the Congressional letter to World Bank President Zoellick calling for immediate debt cancellation.
Click here http://www.jubileeusa.org/haiti.html to go to our Haiti action page where you can see the call script, a copy of Rep. Waters letter, a fact sheet on Haiti's debt and more. The deadline for signers to the Haiti letter is 5 pm on Wednesday, February 18, so please act now!
Thank you for taking action today!
PS - Thanks for sending your messages telling Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner What's On Your Heart! Thousands of hearts, postcards, and online messages are pouring into our office. Keep them coming! A group of religious leaders has requested a meeting with Secretary Geithner to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on the world's poor and to deliver your messages, but a time for the meeting has not been set. The deadline to send us your hearts been extended until February 20.
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COLOMBIA: Action to support indigenous peoples
Over 630 indigenous people are camping outside of Colorado-based Muriel Mining Corporation facilities in Chocó (in northwestern Colombia) and calling for an end to mining on their ancestral lands. The multinational company recently began carrying out exploration work in search of gold, copper and molybdenum deposits on the Careperro Mountain, which is considered a sacred site by surrounding Embera-Katío communities. Indigenous leaders assert that Muriel Mining did not carry out a prior consultation with their communities as required by the Colombian Constitution and international law, and instead gathered signatures, sometimes using dishonest means, from individuals not entitled to make decisions on behalf of the entire community. Muriel Mining was granted a 30-year mining concession by the Colombian Government to explore and exploit 16,000 hectares of land located in the Departments of Antioquia and Chocó. Nearly 11,000 of these hectares are located on the ancestral lands of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The Colombian military has moved in to control the territory and to protect the interests of Muriel Mining. The indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups demand that the law be respected, and that they be allowed to reach a community-wide consensus regarding the mining activities on their lands. As these groups depend on the health and biodiversity of the rainforest in which they live, Muriel Mining has a responsibility to discuss with them how their mining activities and the accompanying deforestation will impact the land.
Please help us put pressure on Muriel Mining and the Colombian Government to respect the rights of the Colombian people.
ACTION : PLEASE WRITE
To send messages to your members of Congress, please go to our website and see CSN’s Action Center: www.colombiasupport.net
President Barack Obama
www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
www.state.gov
Ambassador William Brownfield
AmbassadorB@state.gov
============================================
MURIEL MINING CORPORATION:
President & Chief Executive Officer
Andy Robertson
arobertson@infomine.com
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Technical Officer
Julian Houlding
jhoulding@infomine.com
Director of Business Development
Graham Baldwin
gbaldwin@infomine.com
CORPORATE OFFICES
InfoMine Inc. (Canada)
Suite 640, 580 Hornby Street, Vancouver BC, Canada V6C 3B6
Tel: +1 604 683 2037
Fax: +1 604 681 4166
Email: info@infomine.com
InfoMine (USA)
1120 N. Mullan Road, Suite 100, Spokane Valley WA, USA 99206
Tel: +1 509 328 8023
Fax: +1 509 328 2028
Email: usa-info@infomine.com
===============================================
IN COLOMBIA :
Presidencia de la República
Dr. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, Presidente de la Republica
E-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co
Or via his website http://web.presidencia.gov.co/presidente/perfiling_auv.htm
Scroll down and click on “Escribale al Presidente”
General Jorge Rodriguez
Office of Human Rights
rforero2007@gmail.com
General Hernan Giraldo
Commander of the Seventeenth Brigade
br17ayudantia@ejercito.mil.com
Juan Manual Santos
Minister of Defense
juan.mira@mindefensa.gov.co
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IMMIGRATION: ACTION and INFORMATION
Yesterday at 1:00 p.m. Sheriff Joe Arpaio paraded hundreds of detained immigrants in shackles through the streets of Phoenix, Arizona to a "tent city" where they will be held indefinitely. In true Arpaio form, his office sent a press release to the media inviting them to this event, proving that he's more interested in drawing attention to himself than actually doing his job. In reference to the electric fencing around the tent city, Arpaio said, "This is a population of criminals more adept perhaps at escape. But this is a fence they won't want to scale because they risk receiving quite a shock-literally."
Arpaio is a relentlessly self-promoting caricature of a sheriff (ever closer to "I'm not a real sheriff, I just play one on TV" territory), not an actual law enforcement official. The march is yet another stunt to distract people from his incompetent, lawsuit-riddled folly of a department. He claims that placing immigrants in the "tent city" is a form of cost-cutting. However, that seems out of character given that investigations by the East Valley Tribune and the Goldwater Institute found that the sheriff office's budget has nearly doubled since 2001. In the meantime, criminals have the run of Maricopa County. The sheriff has 40,000 outstanding felony warrants in his jurisdiction and 2,700 lawsuits filed against him.
Arpaio's newest scandal will by no means improve the safety of his community but no doubt get him more publicity. The images that this march will provoke are shocking: horrific shots of people chained, marching through public streets at lunchtime. Perhaps it's a ploy to increase the ratings of Sheriff Joe's new reality show, which is in its seventh week.
Are you tired of his antics yet?
Here's what you can do:
1. Request that the Department of Justice investigate Arpaio's abuses.
2. Forward this email to all of your family and friends, post it on Facebook, and circulate it as far and wide as you can. Send a clear message to Arpaio and his thugs that we will not stand for these kinds of abuses in our nation.
Arizona Republic: Arpaio to Move Illegal-immigrant Inmates
Hundreds to be relocated to segregated area of Tent City; sheriff says plan will cut costs
February 4, 2009
By JJ Hensley and Yvonne Wingett
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/04/20090204arpaiojail0204.html
Sheriff Arpaio Chains Together Immigrants and Forces March
February 4, 2009
By Dan Weiss
http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/02/04/sheriff-arpaio-chains-together-immigrants-and-forces-march
Stop Arizona. Stop Arpaio. Stop the Circus.
February 4, 2009
By Rev. David L. Ostendorf
http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/02/04/stop-arizona-stop-arpaio-stop-the-circus/
More...
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UPDATE: EL SALVADOR
Elections: results of Municipal and Legislative; Information on March 15 elections
Spanish judge to investigate Jesuit massacre; Proposed Port Concession Law could give 90% ownership to foreign company; Pressure from Pacific Rim Mining Company Intensifies, Anti-Mining Activist Home Robbed (check archives for background on this story)
from SHARE: www.share-elsalvador.org
ELECTIONS WATCH: LEGISLATIVE & MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS FINAL RESULTS
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) released the final results of the legislative and municipal elections on Friday, January 23rd. The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) positioned itself as the country's largest political party, 17 years after the signing of the Peace Accords. According to the TSE, the FMLN obtained 42.5% of the valid votes while the National Republican Alliance party (ARENA), the ruling party for the last twenty years, obtained 38.4% of the valid votes. About 2.2 million of Salvadorans, 54% of the population able to vote, cast their votes last January 18th.
The FMLN obtained 35 seats in the National Assembly, three more than what it held in the last term. However, it failed to win the 43 seats needed to obtain a majority. Therefore, the configuration of power in the National Assembly remains the same as the conservative parties, ARENA, with 32 seats, and the National Conciliation Party (PCN), with 11 seats, together still control the Parliament's majority. The Christian Democratic Party (PDC) obtained five seats and the Democratic Change (CD) one seat.
In the municipal elections, ARENA won 121 municipalities, 26 less than in 2006 elections. The FMLN, on the other hand, won 96 municipalities, 37 more than it held in the last term; twenty of these municipalities were won in coalition with the CD and PDC. The PCN, the party of the former dictatorship, won 33 municipalities. The Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR), a party that split from the FMLN, did not win a single seat in the National Assembly or in the municipalities.
Despite what was predicted in various surveys, the incumbent FMLN mayor of San Salvador Violeta Menjívar, lost to the ARENA candidate, Norman Quijano. The former guerilla movement had governed the capital since 1997. According to an exit poll conducted by La Prensa Gráfica, 19% of the voters decided for whom they were going to vote during the last 15 days of the election, when polls could not be published any longer. This could help explain the disparity between the surveys and the results. ARENA and PCN benefited from supporters who made their decision at the last minute.
There is still one municipal contest pending in the 2009 elections. In the city of San Agustín, Usulután, the TSE declared a tie between ARENA and the FMLN. The city will have a second round of elections on February 1st, in which people will decide between these two parties. The new legislators, mayors and city councils members will be seated on May 1st, 2009.
The FMLN conceded the loss of the San Salvador municipality; however, the leaders pointed out several irregularities that influenced the results. According to Medardo González, FMLN General Coordinator, foreigners and people who do not live in San Salvador were mobilized to the capital to vote illegally.
In a letter addressed to the Organization of American States (OAS), eight non-governmental organizations expressed their concern for irregularities in the electoral process, including:
>Electoral violence;
>Fear and misinformation campaigns by Fuerza Solidaria (Solidarity Force);
>Illegal voting by foreigners or people from other municipalities;
>The presence of "floating voters" (people who changed their residency record for electoral purposes)
>Intimidation of workers by their who were pressured into voting for the governing party (click here to read a sample of a intimidation letter);
>Irregularities linked to the electoral registry (minors with identity cards or people with more than one identity card trying to vote several times); and
>The use of state resources to promote political parties.
The electoral observers mission from the European Union (EU) released a preliminary report with recommendations for the TSE. The EU observers stated, "The TSE lacks the capacity to penalize important violations to the Electoral Code, such as the long pre-campaign, a fact that was accentuated by the absence of a Law to regulate the political parties." The report added that Salvadoran electoral legislation "falls below the international standards," which is why they emphasize the need to make reforms. Luis Yañez-Barnuevo, Chief of the Mission, expressed that among the pending reforms is a law that would regulate the political parties' campaign expenses and a law that would give the more than two million Salvadorans living overseas the right to vote.
- Claudia Rodríguez-Alas, DC Policy Office Director
from CISPES www.cispes.org
MARCH 15 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The Christian Democrat Party (PDC) and National Conciliation Party (PCN) have dropped out of El Salvador's March 15 presidential election, leaving the two major parties—the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN)—as the only parties competing for the presidency.
PDC candidate Carlos Rivas Zamora announced his withdrawal on Tuesday, February 3, citing lack of funds and a lack of confidence in the electoral system.
On the afternoon of February 4, the national leadership of the PCN followed suit, announcing it was withdrawing support for its presidential candidate, Tomas Chévez. Chévez maintains he will continue his candidacy even without the backing of PCN leadership, which has prompted some in the leadership to consider expelling him from the party.
Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) magistrate Walter Araujo stated that an independent Chévez candidacy would be a violation of Salvadoran electoral law, which requires all candidates to be representatives of political parties.
The announcements from both parties come after current President Tony Saca, of the ARENA party, called for a “democratic alliance” between ARENA, the PDC, and the PCN leading up to the March election. FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio Funes has criticized the PDC and PCN for withdrawing from the presidential race, accusing ARENA of having “under-the-table” negotiations with the smaller parties for control of key government departments in the case of an ARENA victory. The PCN—which runs the Treasury Court under Saca’s administration—and the PDC deny these allegations.
While on the national level the leadership of ARENA, the PDC, and the PCN typically collaborate and build alliances, this does not always hold true at the local level. Currently, both Funes and ARENA candidate Rodrigo Ávila are meeting with mayors and local leaders around the country to build alliances, and some PDC mayors have already endorsed one candidate or the other. In the most recent poll by La Prensa Grafica, published on February 1, Funes held a 10-point lead over Avila.
VOTING CONTINUES WITH RE-DOS AND TIE-BREAKERS
While January 18 was the date of El Salvador's municipal and legislative elections, re-do and run-off elections have continued since then. On Sunday, January 25, make-up elections were held in San Isidro, Cabañas. The voting center in San Isidro had been shut down at midday on the original election day after the Municipal Electoral Committee voted to suspend voting due to an alarming number of foreigners present in the municipality. The FMLN, PDC, PCN, and CD representatives on the Committee agreed to take the dramatic measure over the objections of the ARENA representative.
The do-over election on January 25 took place amidst a heavy presence of the National Civil Police (PNC) and military Special Forces. International observers and representatives from (FESPAD) denounced the “militarization” of the Voting Center. Other observed irregularities included campaigning within the Voting Center, falsified identification documents, and ARENA activists exchanging food and money for votes. ARENA won the mayoral election in San Isidro, Cabañas.
On February 1, San Agustín, Usulután, held a run-off election after the mayoral candidates for ARENA and the FMLN tied with 877 votes each on January 18. The election on February 1 took place in a very tense environment, with multiple verbal confrontations between supporters of the contending parties. International observers received multiple accusations of ARENA activists buying votes. These accusations were substantiated when ARENA member Berta Lovos was arrested for offering lunch and $20 to people in exchange for ARENA votes. Her case is now under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General. The ARENA mayoral candidate won the election by 166 votes.
The continued voting after January 18 highlight the tense electoral environment and the numerous irregularities reported during the elections. As the presidential election of March 15 approaches, many calls are being made to diminish this tension and make the electoral process fair and transparent.
International observers and political parties have called for a purging of the Electoral Registry—which has been demonstrated to contain numerous anomalies. The FMLN and civil society groups have called for an end to ARENA’s dirty campaign against the FMLN that promotes violence and polarization. Social movement groups have denounced the heightened presence of the PNC and Armed Forces as an attempt at voter intimidation. The FMLN has also requested permission to use ultra-violet lights to verify identification cards at each of the country's 10,000 voting tables for the March 15 presidential election. The right wing-dominated Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) denied the use of these devices in the January 18 municipal and legislative elections. Check out CISPES’s complete analysis of the January elections: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5831
More...
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INTERCAMBIO: Sundays 1:00 at OLGuadalupe, Mondays 7:30pm at CAMP
-Looking for a place to practice Spanish?
-Know a Spanish speaker wanting to practice English?
-Want to get to know a member of the St. Louis Latino community?
¿Está Ud buscando una oportunidad para practicar inglés en un ambiente cómodo?
¿Quiere Ud. mejorar su inglés gratis?
¿Quiere Ud. compartir su idioma y cultura con la comunidad de S. Luis?
¿Quiere Ud. conocer mejor un miembro de la comunidad de S. Luis?
We will put you in contact with someone, you just have to be willing to share your language. Half of the conversation will be in English and the other half will be in Spanish. When and Where?
Podremos ponerlo en contacto con alguien con quien Ud. puede practicar el inglés. Se trata de un intercambio: media hora de conversación en inglés seguida de media hora en español.
¿Dónde y cuándo?
For more information/Para más información:
Elizabeth Driscoll
(314)-721-2977 or (630)-650-3173
driscoec@slu.edu
Marilyn Lorenz:
ifcla@ifcla.net
More...
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